The Power of Authenticity

By Brian Mitchell
    There’s a story told of a woman who pulled up to a red light behind another car. The driver of the car in front of her was talking on his cell phone, and shuffling through some papers on the seat beside him. The light turned green, but the man didn’t notice. The woman began pounding on her steering wheel, honking her horn and yelling at the man to move. The man still didn’t move. The light turned yellow. The woman blew the car’s horn repeatedly, as she yelled and screamed at the man.    The man finally noticed the commotion. He looked up, saw the yellow light, and accelerated through the intersection just as the light turned red. The woman was beside herself, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant she heard a tap on her window and looked into the face of a very serious looking policeman.    The policeman told her to shut off her engine and step out of the car. The red-faced woman obeyed, speechless at what was happening. The policeman took the woman to the police station where she was placed in a cell. After a couple of hours of sitting in the cell, the woman was brought out to the front of the station where the original officer was, waiting with her personal effects.    The policeman handed her the bag containing her things, and said, "I’m really sorry for this mistake. But you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn and screaming and cursing. Then I noticed the *Choose Life* license plate holder, the *Follow Me to Sunday School* bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. So, naturally I assumed that you had stolen the car. But I was wrong, have a blessed day!"    For years, popular television advertising has told us that: “IMAGE IS EVERYTHING.” In other words, it’s not what you are that matters, it’s what you appear to be that does. The problem, spiritually speaking, is that many have bought into this kind of thinking. Believing that if they merely put on a good show, that such will be sufficient enough, to influence people for good. The problem is that for most sincere truth seekers “Image is NOT Everything; Substance Is.” Most people in the world do not care who you profess yourself to be, they care about who you show yourself to be.    If asked what qualities we see in others that bother us the most, toping many of our lists would be dishonesty and/or hypocrisy—the lack of authenticity. Most of us are repelled by people who say one thing and then do another. On the other hand, we are attracted to people who are honest and genuine—people who actually are who they claim to be. We like and trust people who are real and sincere. Why? Primarily because the world is full of people who are pretending to be someone or something that they are not.    There’s a lot of deception in this world. Pretense abounds. But none of this belongs in the church. If we examine the text from Romans 12:9-16 that is our Scripture reading today, one thing that should stand out to us is the need to be real; to be sincere; to be authentic. To enable us to live lives that attract seekers and point their heads toward heaven. That’s what I want to do; what about you.

- Brian Mitchell serves as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net